Nigel Farage is already planning to head to Havering in east London on the morning after the May 7 local elections as he is convinced Reform UK will be celebrating winning its first-ever council in the capital.
In an exclusive interview with The Standard, the Reform leader said: “There's no doubt, in my mind, we're going to win Havering.
“I feel very confident we are going to win Havering.”
In a sign of this confidence, he added: “I’m going to make you a promise.
“My first press call on the morning of May 8 is going to be outside Havering Town Hall at about 7.30 in the morning.
“I look forward to seeing you there.”
Reeling off three more boroughs which Reform has targeted strongly, he added: “Barking and Dagenham, we’re certainly very much in contention.
“Bexley, we're very much in contention. Bromley, we're very much in contention.”
He stressed that in Croydon, Reform was “vying to be the biggest party” on the council which may well end up in no overall control.
“London, which was always red in the middle and blue on the outside, is possibly about to become a sort of multi-coloured quilt,” Mr Farage said, predicting “seismic change” as the Greens are also expected to make major gains in the city.
“I am optimistic that in many other boroughs we're going to win seats,” he added, mentioning Hillingdon, Barnet and Ealing.
“But it's tough to call because the votes are being split in so many different ways.
“You know that you could find places where 24% of the vote wins seats.”
Mr Farage believes that a key part of Reform’s success at the elections will be down to “London Mums” backing Reform.
He says the party’s London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, a mother-of-seven, has struck a chord with many other parents worried about their children’s safety in the capital.
“She's a very powerful figure on this,” he said.
“She certainly believes that law and order, a lack of feeling safe, is now in London at the top of the list.”
He added: “I really believe, as a parent, you think more about your kids safety in London than we ever did before, and that's where the ‘Mums Vote’ is beginning to kick in and we've been getting some of that on the doorstep.”
Mr Farage has welcomed a number of senior Tories who have defected to Reform including former Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick, ex-Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, and Romford MP Andrew Rosindell.
Asked if there was a point where too many ex-Tories joining Reform would damage his party, he said: “Yes. I have set the cut-off at May 7.
“If they don't come before May 7, we ain't going to have them.
“But I needed some people with real experience. I needed people who've been in Cabinet.”
He explained further: “It's a very funny position I'm in, because I'm told, well, you can't form a government because you're all newbies, you've got no experience.
“Then I get people in with experience, I’m told they are all retreads, I sort of almost can't win with this.”
Controversially, the Reform leader has mooted the idea of a referendum in Havering, Bexley and Bromley to splinter away from London.
“The social differences, the attitudinal differences now, between the very centre of London and the outer edges are like almost two different worlds,” he stressed.
On policy issues, he said Reform would:
* “Negotiate properly” with the RMT and Aslef unions to limit Tube strikes which have been causing travel misery for many Londoners recently.
* On law and order, he backed the “broken windows” policy of former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani.
* He said there was “no magic wand” to cut council tax given the adult social care and other pressures on boroughs.
* To address the capital’s homes crisis, he said British people should come first on the social housing waiting list.
* On the cost-of-living, he slammed the “insane policy” on net zero pursued by the Government, which has been blamed for pushing up bills.
* He warned about being “too depressed” about the AI threat to jobs, stressing “new opportunities will come along” and that it would not replace trades and skills.
Mr Farage has previously admitted that Brexit has failed, blaming previous Tory administrations for not delivering the benefits it could have opened up.
He denied that quitting the EU had harmed the City, despite reports of lost trade, business and some workers moving to other financial centres.
But he was scathing in his criticism of the failure to seize what he called the “massive opportunity” for the Square Mile with Brexit.
“We've literally turned our backs on all of it,” he said.
“We haven't deregulated from European rules.
“We haven't deregulated from money laundering rules that lead to people being de banked, a subject very close to my heart. We haven't embraced crypto.
“It’s like the City's not moved on. We're still stuck years behind, and we have a failing equity market. We're falling behind in so many ways.”
